About
Captain Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather. He lives with his wife Marcia, also known as the First Mate, their two dogs, and frequently watch their granddaughter Kayla, whom Captain Ed calls The Little Admiral.
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The Crows Nest
OpenCongress Web Widget
Ever wanted to announce your support or opposition to Congressional legislation? OpenCongress now has a web widget that allows bloggers to do exactly that. Take a look at this, and check out how easily you can build your own.
Maybe They're Flotation Devices?
The Australian Navy foots the bill for breast augmentations. The Labour Party would like to know why, and probably so would most of the voters in Australia.
The Thinking Blogger
Congrats to Fausta, who won a Thinking Blogger award. She thanks me for my friendship, but the truth is that Fausta makes it easy to be her friend. She's always positive and energetic, and she epitomizes the notion of a thinking blogger. Make sure to put her on your must-read list!
Ensign Calls For Return Of MoveOn Money
NRSC chair Senator John Ensign calls for Democrats to return all campaign funds donated by MoveOn, after their despicable New York Times ad today accusing David Petraeus of treason. "If Senate Democrats are serious about moving our country forward, they will denounce this outrageous ad and return the campaign funds MoveOn.org has lavished on them as well as the donations made through MoveOn.org -- the choice is theirs." Ensign's right, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the refund ...
Support The Al-Dura Petition
Roger Simon at Pajamas Media is circulating a petition to demand accountability for the discredited al-Dura report from France's Channel 2. This is, as Roger calls it, the "Father of all Fauxtography," and C-2 has never acknowledged its fault in airing the supposed murder of a Palestinian child. He wants C-2 to show all of the unedited footage of the incident in order to show that C-2 faked the murder. If they're resisting the demand, I'd say they have something to hide ....
There Goes The Undefeated Season
Notre Dame managed to get its first loss out of the way as soon as possible -- and as badly as possible. Georgia Tech came to South Bend and stomped the Irish, 33-3, in the worst home opener loss in school history. The offense fumbled twice and allowed seven sacks on Evan Sharpley, who must have longed to have Brady Quinn back on the field instead. If Charlie Weis doesn't turn this debacle around fast, he may want to start asking Ty Willingham for some career counseling ....
Would Early Primaries Allow More Donations?
Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot believes that candidates will benefit if primaries and caucuses get pushed into 2007. A loophole in campaign finance regulation appears to allow an extra $2,300 per donor for candidates if those elections are held this year. Be sure to check out Jim's analysis, and the surprising candidate that may benefit the most.
When Tom Met Jeralyn
One of the interesting aspects of politics is finding out that opponents are people, too. Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft met Rep. Tom Tancredo backstage at NBC's studios, and found him more likable than she had anticipated. Perhaps it was their mutual interest in Dog, The Bounty Hunter ...
Joe Lieberman A Right-Wing Nut?
That's what CAIR says, according to Joe Kaufman. He has a link to a CAIR official's blog post that calls Lieberman, along with John Bolton, former CIA director James Woolsey, and the Heritage Foundation's Peter Brookes as "extremists". Affad Shaikh also calls Dick Cheney a "fat bastard of a liar," apparently not meant as a pop-culture reference to the Austin Powers movies. (via Let Freedom Ring)
Broadband Homelessness
The Japanese have made homelessness more efficient, and more Net-friendly, too. Their Internet cafés have become homeless shelters for the struggling manual-labor sector. The problem has grown into such a problem that government intervention will shortly become a political priority.
Found My Law Firm
Power Line links twice to this story regarding an attorney at Faegre & Benson who refused to become a victim and helped capture a very dangerous man. Keith Radtke is a partner in the firm as is Power Line's John Hinderaker. Radtke is listed in satisfactory condition after getting shot in the back, but that didn't keep him from locking up his attacker in a wrestling grip until police could arrive. I don't know about you, but that's the kind of man I'd want as my counsel ....
Don't Click That YouTube E-mail
The latest in spam seems to be redirections from YouTube links in e-mail to IP addresses without domain names. They attempt to entice people by making it seem that they have been inadvertently YouTubed. I'm sure most people can see through this scam, but just in case, you've been warned ....
Rick Moran Escapes The Floods
Rick Moran has kept us up to date on his travails along the Algonquin River. Yesterday, the police showed up to get him evacuated before the river flooded his home -- but today, Rick finds that a minor miracle has taken place, and that his house survives ... at least for now. Keep Rick in your prayers, and keep checking in at Right Wing Nut House for updates.
Rule 1: Drag The Corpse On Over First
If I've learned anything in four years of blogging, don't try to be out in front of the death rumors, especially with the villains of the world. Saddam died a hundred deaths before we caught him alive in his spider hole, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi almost as many before his demise last year. Osama may or may not be alive, but everyone's avoided speculating on his fate for a while now. Maybe Val at Babalu Blog will get luckier with his "Castro Is Dead" story. We all hope so. I'll wait for the announcement ....
Hobbs Choice
Volunteer Voters is holding its annual "Best of Nashville" on-line polls, and one of the categories is for the best political writer. Our friend Bill Hobbs, now posting at Newsbusters, and he'd like his on-line fans to cast their votes. Drop by and put one in for Bill if you get a chance!
Comments (9)
Posted by Jacob | October 3, 2007 9:08 AM
Are Republicans prepared to run on a combined platform such as the Contract with America that clearly spells out their commitment to smaller budgets, tax reform and a clear refusal to continue to pander to the entitlement classes by passing huge programs such as the Medicare drug plan?
If Republicans actually act like fiscal conservatives, my faith in the party /may/ be renewed.
By the way, if anyone asks or answers this question, please let me know via email or blog what the reply is. I'm deaf and can't listen to the radio.
Thanks!
Posted by Dennis | October 3, 2007 9:29 AM
Please explain to them that we were upset, angry, or discussed (which ever word you think best describes) with their spending. We worked for many years to bring about a Conservative Republican majority. They came into office with great promise and our unquestioned support. Then the spending started! The spending continued and there were not any real hard fights to cut the government size eliminate "earmarks" or drive the agenda.
This is continuing now; we, the voters do not accept the "Oh well, we are the minority and lets get along" cry now emanating from Washington. Stand up and fight! Then come to us for support! I may be a biased Goldwater Republican but truth is I will not support democrat light.
When will you begin to push for a conservative agenda? When will you stand-up and fight: Nancy, Harry, Hillary and company?
Posted by Bruce Kesler | October 3, 2007 9:35 AM
Ed: I received a number of informed comments regarding this post http://www.democracy-project.com/archives/003477.html considering this Defense Appropriations amendment by Sen. Kennedy a major problem for defense and budgets.
What will the Reps do about it?
Posted by RD | October 3, 2007 9:42 AM
I have two questions I would like Boehner to address...1) Why is the leadership not fighting to have the complete unredacted Barrett report released...2) Why does the leadership of the House not take issue with Reid's characterization of Limbaugh's remarks on "phony soldiers" on the floor of the house and read into the record the complete transcript of these remarks????
Posted by RD | October 3, 2007 9:57 AM
Oh, and I have another question for any and all of them...Why does the leadership not fight fire with backfire? Why do they not defend their defenders? Why do they not fight slime with shame? Why do they not fight for the principles they are supposed to represent???and own and own and own.
Posted by FedUp | October 3, 2007 11:22 AM
All of what Dennis and RD said!
Plus, how are they going to deal with the next Shamnesty bill?
What are they going top do to eliminate the pork?
How can they get the AMT revised or repealed?
They need to know that those of us who are still Real Republicans, will stand up against Nancy, Harry, Jack, Teddy and all the others on BOTH sides!
Why do you let the dems excoriate Repulicans ( Stevens, Vilner, etc) and do not point out the problems like the Clintons, Wm, Jefferson, Murtha, Feinstein?
I'm just sick and tired on not having representation anymore!
Posted by Russ | October 3, 2007 12:45 PM
How 'bout the idea of introducing a constitutional amendment REQUIRING full transparency on all legislative matters. We now have the technology, let's damn well use it.
Leaving it up to the whims of Congressional leadership to decide if rules for the session will support transparance is a recipe for corruption.
Please get a sense of the viability for such an amendment.
Posted by RD | October 3, 2007 1:28 PM
I believe that in an interview on TV Obey said that it was illegal to buy, sell or take things that were White House property. Wasn't he on the committee that looked into the TAKING by the Clinton's of White House property? Who allowed them to BUY the things they TOOK by sending a check (of their estimate of the value) for the things they TOOK from the White House? Wasn't that SELLING the property (another illegality)? Why wasn't anything done about such a blatant theft?
Posted by RD | October 3, 2007 2:17 PM
Investigating further I find that Obey was not a member of the Park Service committee that did the investigating, in fact, I find very little on that investigation and the TAKING of the furnishings by the CLINTONS but I still have the same questions...who authorized and passed on the whole deal as it went down and why was it ignored?